BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- While Tea Party candidates underperformed against establishment Republican incumbents in recent U.S. primary elections, in Europe their conservative cousins have just scored some spectacular victories.

Boris Johnson, the floppy-haired, often hilarious mayor of London, wins a second term. Johnson, a Conservative, beats Labor Party candidate Ken Livingstone, the man who was mayor of the British capital before him.

Nick Clegg, Britain’s deputy prime minister, conceded defeat Monday in the campaign to overhaul the House of Lords by turning the venerable but undemocratic institution into a partially elected one. He acknowledged that his Liberal Democrats...

Tons of tiny plastic pellets are washing up on Hong Kong beaches after a powerful typhoon sent “white plastic sacks of death” tumbling off a ship into the sea, environmental activists say, warning the spilled pellets could send chemicals up...

Shintaro Ishihara, the strident governor of Tokyo who helped touch off a major dispute between China and Japan over some uninhabited islets near Taiwan, announced that he was quitting his post and forming a new political party.

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Without ditching its austerity prescription for the U.K. economy, the Conservative-led government announced a series of mini-giveaways Wednesday that it hopes will bear dividends at what is expected to be the tightest general election in decades.
In his final budget statement ahead of the May 7 election, Treasury chief George Osborne focused his largesse on wannabe homebuyers, pensioners, drivers and frequenters of the British pub. The cost of the measures, budget figures showed, was more than offset...

Britain is counting down to its general election in just over two months — and the name-calling has begun in earnest.
Prime Minister David Cameron refused Thursday to take part in a head-to-head TV debate with opposition leader Ed Miliband, giving ammunition to rival parties who all jumped in to accuse Cameron of cowardice and "running scared."
"He is cowering from the public," said Miliband, who leads the Labour Party. "The British people deserve this debate. I'll debate him any time, any place,...

LONDON -- The surge in support for the U.K. Independence Party -- demonstrated at the European Union election last week -- may have major consequences for the British film and TV industry.
UKIP, which advocates an exit from the European Union, took first place among British parties in the EU election, the results of which were just announced. It is the first time a party other than the Conservatives or Labor Party has come first in a national election for 100 years.
The UKIP vote surged 11% to nab 27.5%...

By Janet Stobart
, This post has been updated. Please see note below for details.

Story
| Jan 29, 2014
| 10:34 AM

LONDON — Bowing to increasing pressure, Britain will offer refuge to several hundred Syrians fleeing their country’s civil war, Prime Minister David Cameron announced Wednesday.
The decision comes after weeks of contentious debate over the government’s non-participation in a United Nations program that aims to resettle some 30,000 Syrian refugees in willing host countries.
Wednesday’s announcement came after lobbying from opposition members and Liberal Democrats within Britain&...

LONDON -- Marriage-minded gays and lesbians can begin tying the knot in Britain on Saturday, becoming the latest same-sex couples in Europe and beyond to have the right to do so and fulfilling a dream made possible by a Conservative-led government.
A handful of town halls across the country prepared to open at the stroke of midnight to allow nuptials that jubilant supporters called long overdue and opponents deplored as an attack on traditional values.
“It’s a landmark,” said...

Voters in Scotland cast ballots Thursday in a historic referendum on seceding from Britain.
A “yes” vote would end Scotland’s 300-year-old union with England and Wales, redrawing the map of the United Kingdom and raising difficult questions about the future of Scotland’s economy and its relationship with international partners such as the European Union and NATO.
But even if the “noes” have it, Scotland appears poised to extract more powers from the central...